Fire and water proof insulation.



H. HAMMESFAHR.

FIRE AND WATER PROOF INSULATION.

APPLIOATIOR FILED MAY 15, 1912.

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FIRE AND WATER PROOF INSULATION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J une 24, 1913.

Application filed May 15, 1912. Serial No. 697,518.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, IIERMAN IIAMMES- FAHR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire and \Vater Proof Insulation, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in wire insulation and has reference to the process of applying such insulation to wires or thelike, as well as to the article produced by such method.

The presentinvention has for its object primarily the production of an insulated wire or wires in which there is formed upon the wire or wires a glass sheet or film (or a multiplicity thereof) whichis of such nature as to remain flexible and leave no interstices or openings by which the electric current may escape or ignite the other materials used on the wire. The insulation is not only fire-proof but is waterproof.

The process may be carried out in a variety of ways and by different forms of machinery.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter appear and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, I have chosen to show some of the forms of .wire constructed in accordance with myinvention, but without, however, restricting myself to any particular form or multiplicity of films or coatings of the insulating materiah In the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates the wire after it has received its first thin sheetor film of insulating material. Fig. 2 is a view showing the same with the fabric coating. Fig. 3 shows the wire after it has received its second sheet or film of the glass coating. Fig. 4 shows the wire after it has received its waterproofing coating. Fig. 5 shows the wire after it has received its third sheet or film of the glass preparation. Fig. 6 shows the wire with a fabric coating to protect the glass and the waterproof film.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts throughout the different views.

The present invention which pertains more particularly to insulating material, and which, in the present instance is exemplified by its use as a coating for wire, or a cluster of wires, as the case may be, has as its principal feature the material which is employed for insulating purposes. This material is preferably in the form of a mixture, the principal ingredient of which is glass having particular characteristics,

these characteristics being that in its raw state, it is of filmy or filamentous character, but which, when crushed or rolled into mass form, tends to mat or coalesce to. produce a somewhat fiocculent product. The material in its raw state is similar to that resulting from blowing a batch of glass until the ensuing hollow product bursts by reason of the thinness of the walls of such product being unable to withstand the blowing pressure, the product produced by the bursting being similar to that which forms the raw material herein employed. The filmy or filamentous character of this product permits it to be crushed or matted or coalesced into a form which serves to act as an insulating material.

WVhere the coating is employed for insulating wire, I preferably form the mixture of the crushed glass above referred to, and shellac, combined with a suitable saponaceous substance, these ingredients forming a mixture which can be readily applied as so applied, not affect the flexibility of the insulated wire.

A method of insulating with this compound would be by taking a wire 1 (or a cluster of wires, as the case may be), and draw it, in any suitable manner, through the mixture referred to, thereby applying r a coating to the wire, and which will, when to the surface of the wire practically a thin sheet or film of glass, the coating leaving no openings or interstices for the escape of current, this-protection against the escape of current acting as a fire preventing means. This glass sheet or film is indicated, in the drawings, by the reference numeral 2. Over the wire thus coated with the glass sheet or film, I wind or braid a layer of cotton, silk, or any other material suitable for winding or braiding, as .shown at 3. The wire is then drawn through a mixture similar to that above described which applies a thin sheet or film or coating 4 of glass over the wound or'braided covering. -Over this I wind atape, preferably of rubber, with the edges overlapped and sealed, making it absolutely waterproof as well as proof against short circuiting, such waterproof wrapping or coating is indicated by 5. I then draw the wire through the glass preparation above described so as to apply thereto another film or sheet of such insulating material as seen at 6. In or'derto protect the glass and rubber coatings, I may braid or wind over the whole, cotton, silk or other suitable material, as shown at 7. By this means I attain a wire coated with a waterproof insulation, yet the wire retains practically all of its original flexibility and is adapted for any and all uses to which such wires are usually put.

Variations of theabove method may be resorted to. For instance, in some cases it may be found sutlicient to give the wire but two films or coatings of the glass preparation. Again, a greater number may be advantageously employed; The glass may be spun in any well-known way. The process and the insulation may be employed in connection with materials or articles other than wire.

hat is claimed as new is 1. The method of insulating wire or the like which consists in coating the wire with a mixture having as an ingredient crushed filmy or filamentous glass.

2. The method of insulating wire or the like which consists in coating the wire with a mixture having as an ingredient crushed filmy 0r filamentous blown glass, and then water-proofing said coating by a waterproofing element.

3. The method of applying insulation to a wire or the like, which consists in drawing the same through a saponaceous mixture containing blown glass and then covering the film thus formed.

4. Wire or the like having an insulating coating of a mixture including crushed filmy or filamentous blown glass.

5. fire or the like having an insulating coating of a mixture including blown glass crushed to matted flocculent condition.

6. Wire or the like having an insulating coating of a mixture including blown glass ofa filmy or filamentous character crushed to matted or coalesced condition.

I In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HERMAN HAMMESFAHR.

lVitnesses:

FRANCIS HENRY BALDWIN, WM. F. TTTNER. 

